


a bit of company past time

by yourgirlislovely



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aquaphobia, Character Death, Dark fic, F/M, Gen, dark!Ginny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:54:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29976300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourgirlislovely/pseuds/yourgirlislovely
Summary: he always stayed close.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Tom Riddle/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. the end

**Author's Note:**

> This is an attempt to tell a story inspired by Death Takes a Holiday. It's an absolute delight of a movie and I highly recommend it!
> 
> I just hope I can give it justice!
> 
> Any spelling or grammar mistakes are my own.

* * *

A fatal case of dragon fever, they say.

It is dragon fever that finds a home in Ginny, slowly creeping through her veins for over a year before she even notices. She knows not how or why, but it is already rooted in her like a parasite when the healers state their diagnosis.

It could be any day, they say.

Her mother cries, Harry is angry, and she…well.

She feigns pity, tears, whatever sane person in her exact position would react to such devastating news.

But instead, Ginny begins counting down. The number seven etches it’s way to the forefront of her mind as soon as she is informed that there is no hope for a cure. 

_Seven months_ , she thinks to herself. She is sure of it. 

She stares out from her hospital bed as words of comfort and arms wrap around her. But all she does is look at her reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall across from her. 

She does not see her light brown eyes.

Instead, she sees black. 


	2. count down

* * *

_**5 months before she dies** _

She is tired. Irritated in fact. For the past month, Harry takes her across the globe to the most remote locations in search of the most obscure forms of magic. His desperation to keep her alive is foolish, yet funny.

A man who is known to have faced and embraced death is suddenly afraid of it.

Perhaps it is his own selfishness. 

After so many losses of his own, he is finally tired of losing the same battle. 

Harry means well, but he fights more than her inevitable demise–he is fighting her much more quiet acceptance of fate. He fights a false enemy but she cannot bring herself to shed light on his false assumptions. She cannot bring herself to admit that her foreseeable departure never weighs as a tragedy by any means. That she is patiently waiting. That the countdown in her mind does not have room for him or anyone else. 

That when he comes home with another thread of hope( false hope) that this disease can be cured, or at least held at bay, she wants to tell him to just let go. 

_She wants to tell him all that’s in her mind-- that when sleep takes over, she glimpses what awaits her next-- a narrow entrance to a long hall adorned, the damp and still air surrounding her, the cold and wet floors that echo with her every step. She remembers being here before, years ago.As a little girl, she remembers the hours spent here, the emptiness fills her with a comfort she has not felt at any other time in her life. Her thoughts are free, her mind flows and her soul calms. Ginny wants to stay there forever._

She wants to admit to this so badly. 

But she knows the moment she does, there will be a separate mission to fix her, to change her mind. Because death so close, of course her mind returns to the darkest time in her life. Her family will not listen to her when she speaks of the calm she feels when she’s there. They only remember the horror, the confusion. They remember the fact that she was almost lost to them then, just as she is about to be. 

Very soon. 

'Full of life' is how they know her. And they will do anything to keep her exactly as that. 

_**3 months before she dies** _

During one of their many uncomfortable excursions, they find themselves on the shores of Maine in America, tracking another lead on a cure. 

They arrive on a dark and stormy night (“ A warm welcome”, Harry remarks) at a small inn in Bath.

She finds the weather welcoming– the heavy rain reminds her of damp stone walls, smooth against her hands. The cold freezes her bones as she writes, the quill's scratches echo louder and louder as her cramped hand frantically moves against the pages of a tattered journal.

The innkeeper is quite indifferent to their presence, even after Harry presents them as “Mr and Mrs. Potter”. She sees the annoyance on Harry’s face as the innkeeper looks at him, expression unchanged, and proceeds to stick his hand for the payment. 

She cannot help but smile at this slight offense. 

_It seems her husband’s reputation had given way to a fragile ego._

Harry tries again to get the man’s attention. 

“Er, We want to know how to get to Seguin Island”, he says, handing the gold over to the man. “Is there a portkey or--”

“No." Pause.

“I’m sorry?”

The man says nothing more. He turns around to grab the keys to their room. 

Sensing Harry’s temper, Ginny steps in. 

“We are looking for the man in the lighthouse,''she says. 

The man stops again for a moment, his back still facing them. He then grabs the key and slams it on the counter. 

“There is,” Harry starts slowly through clenched teeth, “a wizard lives there who can break curses, even cure diseases.”

_Seguin Light, they call it. She recalls when Harry first brought up this place at the start of his quest to save her. She remembers her enormous effort to feign hope for the occasion, the upward curve of her lips just enough to invoke a smile on his face. Just enough that he pulls her into an embrace, relieving her of her act._

"Nothin' there to see, no one there who'll save you."


End file.
